Fiat Chrysler’s ‘Confusing’ Gear Shifter Has Caused Over 100 Crashes
USA’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has significantly expanded its investigation into the apparently ‘confusing’ gear shifter found in around 400,000 Grand Cherokees. The organisation is now looking at 856,000 vehicles in total, covering 3.6-litre V6 Grand Cherokees from 2014 and 2015, Dodge Chargers from 2012-2014 and Chrysler 300s from the same period.
The issue is that the electronic shifter - a part made by German firm ZF - returns to the middle position after each selection. It doesn’t feature a park button either, and according to the NHTSA, these two factors have resulted in numerous owners inadvertently exiting their vehicles with the car is still in drive.
The organisation reckons that 306 roll-away incidents involving Grand Cherokees can be attributed to confusion over the selector, allegedly leading to 117 crashes and 28 injuries in the USA. The NHTSA stated that their testing revealed “poor tactile and visual feedback to the driver, increasing the potential for unintended gear selection.”
It’s worth mentioning that the cars in question do have an audible and visual warning that appears if the driver’s door is opened while the vehicle is not in park.
A recall has not yet been issued, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles says that it’s cooperating with the NHTSA’s investigations.
Source: Detroit News
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Simple solution: drive stick.
Never saw something like this in an manual transmission…
thats not a gear shifter its a bitchh handle
“returns to the middle position after each selection”
Does that mean I need to click it down 3 distinct times to put the car in drive?
How stupid is that. What benefit does that give me over existing shifters that do the same thing in one fluid motion?
Stupid is as stupid does. Buying a Fiat Chrysler product was their first mistake.
My dads bmw is like this. Initially i was like wtf but then i got used to it. Still a stupid design though with putting in neutral, then pushing the park button on top, and pulling the e brake button. Too many steps to turn off a car. My car i put it in park and turn the car off. Just two steps verses four.
I used it once in a rental Jeep Grand Cherokee. Not that difficult. You nudge it into the position you want. The gauge cluster screen tells you what gear it’s in.
Only in america
gearboxes don’t cause crashes, idiots do.
They should investigate the drivers’ IQ.